Answer
by Rabid Lola
Summary: Because love is not hugs and kisses, no matter how fluffy and feel good they are. Ban x Himiko.


**_Answer_**

_A Ban/Himiko fanfic by Rabid Lola _

**A/N: **_Because love is not just kisses and hugs. No matter how fluffy and feel-good they are. _

_Do not own :D _

…**---…**

She stares up at him in growing anger, her violet eyes narrowing as his rant continues.

"You should be more _careful! _How old are you, seventeen? You _know_ what can happen to a normal seventeen-year-old girl if she's attacked by a street gang!"

She stands, slamming her hands down onto the table, ignoring the fact that it rattles the cup of coffee in front of her and causes some of the beverage to spill. "Ban, I'm not a child!"

He glares. "That's not the point!"

The waitress winces, trying to remain inconspicuous as she wipes up the spilled drink. The blonde man sitting in the same booth shoots her a sympathetic glance, before trying to pacify his partner. "Ban-chan…"

Ban ignores him. "Himiko, if I hadn't saved you…"

She interrupts. "I had the situation under control!"

"It didn't look like it to me!" he snaps.

She blows. "Listen, you don't have to keep on running after me! That…that stupid promise you made to my brother…you kept it already, all right? My curse is _finished. _You don't have to protect me anymore!"

His eyes narrow as he shoots to his feet, and he towers over her, fire in his eyes. "You don't get it, do you?" he hisses. Like the hiss of the snake that resides in his arm, angry and fierce.

Ginji drops his head in his hands with a sigh.

Natsumi looks from one to the other, a tentative expression on her face. Paul, from his usual spot behind the counter, raises his eyebrows.

Himiko shrinks back a little at his—glare? Gaze?—but she stands her ground and stares defiantly back.

It's just a matter of who will snap first.

Surprisingly, he does. Pivoting on his heel, he storms out of the café, door swinging shut with a wild jangling of the hanging chimes.

She sighs, automatically deflating, like a balloon that had lost all its air. Ginji looks at her thoughtfully, almost reproachfully, and she looks defensively back. "What?"

"Himiko-chan, I think you should go after him," he says gently.

"What! No way!"

He sighs again. "He has something to tell you." He frowns. "Well, something he _should _tell you. Follow him."

"Himiko-san, please?" Natsumi puts in timidly. She's caught on by now.

The girl looks like she's not going to move. The, with an exasperated breath, she turns and leaves.

The bells jangle again, and Paul, Natsumi and Ginji look at each other. The café owner shakes his head.

"I wish them luck."

…**---…**

He's standing not far off, leaning on his car, and smoking. She approaches him warily, and he doesn't look up.

"Ban?" she begins tentatively.

He blows a bit of smoke, and then says, "I'm sorry."

This is unexpected. She's startled, to say the least, and doesn't know what to say. But it slips out of her mouth, and she wonders where it came from. "I'm sorry, too."

He looks at her, then, and raises an eyebrow.

For some reason, she's flustered, and she tries to defend herself. "It's not like I don't appreciate your help. But honestly, Ban, I'm seventeen. And I do things most seventeen-year-olds don't do. And you're not obliged to protect me, not anymore, because you've kept your promise…"

"I told you, you don't get it," he butts in roughly. But there's a softness in his voice, too.

She bristles at this, but curiosity overcomes her annoyance. "Don't get what?"

"Why I…well, why I…" he makes a meaningless gesture, and she wonders at his loss of words. He's still not looking at her. "Always protect you," he mumbles, so that she almost doesn't hear.

Her brow furrows; she doesn't understand. "Ban?"

"It's not just the promise," she hears him say. He seems to be uncomfortable now, much to her bewilderment. "Not just that."

"So…what else…" she trails off, falls silent, completely clueless. Something nudges her mind, then, and she blushes a little and tries not to think it, because it's impossible.

He doesn't answer, and she thinks he won't. But finally he lets out an annoyed growl, and grumbles, "It's because I care."

She stares. "You what?"

He snaps his head up and glares at her belligerently. "I care. I worry. About what happens to you."

She's red, now, realization hitting her like a stone out of a slingshot. He sees she finally gets it, and looks away again, because he's red, sort of, too.

Her next words come out in a small, subdued voice. "I'm sorry."

"I know that," he says dryly, condescendingly.

She jerks her head up. "Ban!" But he's laughing at her, and she has to smile.

The silence that follows is awkwardly comfortable: there's peace between them again, and a new awareness, too.

Finally, Ban looks up. "We'd better go in." She nods.

When his arm brushes against hers as they go back inside, she doesn't really move away.

…**---…**

They part normally, that night, but the next time they meet, she gives him an unreadable look before averting her face. He sighs in near-exasperation and gets her alone, talking to her in a low voice. Her reply is soft, whatever it is, but it makes a smirk—or is it a smile?—break across his face. He says more to her, and she looks up in a mixture of surprise and shock and hits him. He laughs, and incredibly, she does too.

And that's how it began.

…**--EnD--…**

** A/N 2: **Pointlessness. And not my usual style, but so what?  
This was written a long time ago. And it's the second to the last fic I have in stock, mwahahaha. Till next time.


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